When they bought the house, it had a small, rudimentary platform at the top of the steeply sloping property, giving way to a spectacular view. “It needed some TLC,” says Ferguson, who along with Mikita thought they’d simply spruce it up but ultimately created “basically a cabana up there with a fire pit that just kept expanding.”

Their nearly 5,000-square-foot, four-bedroom home came about after an extensive search—with Mikita doing the brunt of the legwork—and was the last house they saw of dozens. “We walked up and were like, ‘Oh, this might be it,’” says Mikita, who felt jarred by the teal trim in the photos, but when he saw it in person, “The minute I walked up I was in love with it.”

A “Homo Sweet Homo” doormat the couple picked up is the first sign of the sense of humor they bring to their interior design.

The pre-dinner cocktail area is a favorite for the couple who love to entertain. Big but cozy, it’s Gurski’s favorite space, too. “Anyone who walks into the room is just blown away,” says Ferguson who embraced clashing patterns and color. “Sometimes Jesse would go, 'I saw this green color and I want to do it in this room,' and then we’d look on samples and start to riff off that, do it a little brighter," says Gurski. The plaid love seat was built for the space, and the yellow leather sofa was Ferguson’s idea.

While the threesome—Gurski, Ferguson, and Mikita—mostly agreed during the design process, Mikita says there were times he “tapped out,” like with the yellow leather sofa in their beloved library. “I love that beautiful yellow; I love it so much,” says Ferguson, who specifically knew he wanted that exact piece.

Gurski found the oversize playing cards hanging on each side of an original wrought-iron balcony and then had their backs made to place on the opposite wall, along with little French figure paintings that had been in Ferguson’s Broadway dressing room during Fully Committed. A cake topper from their wedding has a place, as do Virgin de Guadalupe–style candles with images of Barbra Streisand and Britney Spears, and a bust of Liza Minnelli.

The living room is one of the only spaces left white, whereas the couple’s previous home was almost entirely so. The gold-accented vaulted ceiling is a highlight, while the iron horse from Timothy Oulton stands out as a focal point. Mikita’s first and ultimately most important selection for the house—the very first thing they bought for it—informed the rest of the design, which melds humor with sophistication. There are Restoration Hardware sofas, tables they had built from reclaimed warehouse wood, a mirror made in the Warner Bros. metal shop, and spotlights from a shuttered restaurant in Los Angeles.

Early on, one end of the living room was deemed a gallery wall, which now contains bits of art collected over the past five years, mostly on the couple’s travels. A few are by Cuban art students, purchased quickly while touring the school by slipping them cash and getting rolled-up pieces in return. “They weren’t supposed to be selling their art,” says Ferguson, adding “the art was something we decided to do together because neither one of us know about art or are connoisseurs, so it’s been learning about it together.” Other pieces include something from an extra Modern Family set, a piece Gurski found at Casa Victoria, a bowtie, a portrait of Leaf, Ferguson’s baby shoe he found cleaning out his mom’s house, and a neon pink heart from Urban Outfitters, which the couple continues to laugh over.

Entering Ferguson’s and Mikita’s bedroom is like being embraced in a warm hug, thanks to a slew of cozy fabrics that line the massive headboard (custom-made at the Warner Bros. upholstery shop thanks to Gurski’s connections), bed, drapes, and even the walls, which are coated with a tweed suiting–like Phillip Jeffries wallpaper. “The cloth wallpaper brings such a calm vibe to the room because it kills all the sound from the outside world.” Other touches include a long, skinny custom-made bench from a guy at the Rose Bowl Flea Market upholstered in a vintage army blanket and a bespoke sofa they had built at Empiric Studio.

The gleaming white master bathroom is most tame but extremely peaceful. Ferguson desperately wanted a bathtub, which it has, though he prefers the clawfoot in the guest room and actually uses it more frequently. The powder rooms downstairs have some memorabilia from Modern Family and his one-man Broadway show, Fully Committed. “I try to pick things out that are not so on the nose,” he says of taking souvenirs from set.

The best—and most genius—secret inside the couple’s closet? Ferguson’s hideaway Nespresso machine. “I had very specific instructions for a hideaway coffee machine. Honestly, I use this almost every day.” They also share quite a bit of their wardrobe, so one side is dress-up clothes and the other is casual pieces. “It gets a little confusing,” admits Ferguson. Their hundreds—maybe thousands—of multicolor bowties are stored in custom-built drawers. Many are from Tie the Knot, which they started to raise money for marriage equality; funds now go to gay rights and maintaining equality.

The pool was one of the selling factors for Ferguson, who had always wanted one.

Because they designed the house to be so comfortable, they use every single room, even the guest bedrooms. “If I’m snoring Justin will go into a guest room, or I’ll meditate in one room or use a desk in another to write,” says Ferguson. A trio of guest bedrooms includes this one with a Southwestern feel. The other is “the land of lost toys,” as in the place they put all their leftover furniture, including the first chair Gurski helped Ferguson buy, re-covered.

A petite guest room with a daybed is home to Ferguson’s collection of Emmy Awards for his role of Mitchell Pritchett on Modern Family. They found the ship at the Rose Bowl Flea Market. “It spoke to us because there’s a theme of ships in this house, in the ironwork, and the center of the weathervane on the roof is a ship,” says Mikita.

The kitchen cabinets were refinished recently in a deep green, to the chagrin of a resistant Mikita. “I do really like a white, clean look, but that’s not our look. Still, every time I walk into somebody’s home who has all white I get envious. Every time we start to darken rooms I feel like, Oh boy, next we’re going to have all these tchotchkes everywhere. That’s our aesthetic.” To contrast the L.A. home, they’re going very white and clean in their New York place, with the help of Gurski once again, so they can enjoy the “duality of the different vibes.”

One of the selling points of the house was its expansive open kitchen—a draw, at least, for one half the couple. Ferguson is an avid, ambitious cook who in the 10 years they’ve been together, according to Mikita, has gone from cook to chef, having blossomed in this kitchen (“It’s definitely a creative passion and outlet for him he’s developed over time”). Ferguson even films an online cooking show with his friend and food blog collaborator Julie Tanous in the space.

The couple spends the most time in the media room, which was a work in progress—until recently when they found the perfect cozy leather sofas from H.D. Buttercup. “I love to lie, low angles,” laughs Mikita, to which Ferguson responds, “Justin just loves places where he can sleep.” A large black and white photograph from their wedding, a mini parade with Padma Lakshmi and friends, hangs on one wall.

One result of Mikita’s first choice of the horse sculpture was an animal theme that pervades most rooms of the house, like in the stylized wildlife pictures hanging in the dining room, clad in a studded black Phillip Jeffries wallpaper. The table was custom made by Cleveland Art, as well as the motorcycle-chain chandelier hanging from the original coffered ceiling.

The large amount of livable outdoor space—and its landscaping, including “dinosaur trees” and pomegranate and avocado trees—attracted the couple, who entertain often and well.

Mikita calls the home and its outdoors “the Russian nesting doll of the house we had before,” in the sense that it has multiple layers and levels. “It felt like the bigger grown-up version of that house," he says. Gurski and the couple worked with landscape designer Sean Femrite to master the look of their outdoors.

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